The firm surveyed more than 3,860 professionals from businesses in different industries in Europe, the Americas and Asia. More than 90% agree that managing workplace safety and health has become an integrated part of today’s corporate strategy, while 76% say they implement policies that exceed legal requirements. North Americans (66%) and Swedes (55%) believe ergonomics is the main risk area, while Asians (54%) perceive structural deficiencies of machines and equipment to be the main concern. According to DNV GL, these findings indicate that "companies find operational initiatives to be the most effective. In fact, the ranking of the top most effective actions is topped by the regular maintenance of premises (48%) and emergency measures (46%)," DNV GL says. "Organizational issues such as the assessment of all risks related to health and safety (37%) and preventive measures (35%) are down on the list."
But that's also starting to shift, as more companies recognize the need to strategically work on prevention. Survey respondents suggest that employee training (63%), assessment of all risks (63%) and adoption of management systems or prevention programs (59%) will top the list of future initiatives to safeguard worker safety. What's more, 90% of those surveyed expect to maintain or increase investments for occupational safety and health in the next 3 years.
This survey suggests a global shift in occupational safety management is underway. Are you seeing similar developments in your organization?